Moonsong Glacier pittaq ▱

gray trader.

his grave was an expanse of unmarked ice.

his spirit had been tethered here in his anger.

there was no protection here from stone nor mountain; kukutux sank down into the long-ago remembered place where she had kept her vigil over him for the nine nights of death songs.

"they will lead if the people choose them." but her eyes were upon the land where once the thick red of life had stained the snow, where the wind had carried the last of gray trader's breath to the dancing lights.

"you are not a sunshine person.  a moon village must be led by a sunshine person. otherwise it is a village of its own."

acceptance must come! kukutux shut her eyes and lifted chin into the bite of the frost-burdened wind.

"so ariadne takes the name of moonsong with her. this does not mean that the ice mountain cannot be home to its own people."

to a new name, a new ways. the duck would not insist that the village come apart for the lack of her daughter. they did not deserve to be swallowed by other villages if they did not wish to come. "all in the wilderness are open to those who live here. but perhaps they want a chance to be reborn."

the wind tossed her words up, up and distant. "how did your mother accomplish this?" easy? was she a shaman?